I'll See You (With Your Laughter Lines)
by Emeli Thorne
Summary: "You Ginny?" "Yeah... And you are?" "My name's Mike. We just moved here, my mom and I." "Nice to meet you, Mike." ... Mike has blond hair with some brownish streaks and his eyes are a strange blend of green and brown with little specks of gold. Sometimes, when he teases her, his lips quirk to side in a cute way... or, the Bawson Childhood friends AU
1. Nice to Sweet You

Summary: "You Ginny?"

"Yeah... And you are?"

"My name's Mike. We just moved here, my mom and I."

"Nice to meet you, Mike. So, are you in my class?"

He nods.

...

Mike has blond hair with some brownish streaks and his eyes are a strange blend of green and brown with little specks of gold. Sometimes, when he teases her, his lips quirk to side in a cute way...

or, the Childhood friends AU featuring Bawson 3

I have no idea where this is going lol But it's gonna be an interesting ride.

* * *

 _ **Nice to Sweet You**_

Ginny's trotting down the hallway of _Beckett Elementary_ , her neon blue backpack on her back, her lunchbox swaying in her right hand, when she hears someone calling after her.

"Hey! Hey, wait up!"

Stopping abruptly she turns around, her red tartan skirt whooshing around her knees.

A boy is running towards her, his own backpack jumping violently on his back. It takes him seconds to reach her; then, he's standing in front of her, puffed and rosy-cheeked. Ginny stands there, waiting for him to catch his breath and finally speak.

"You Ginny?"

Ginny frowns, eying him warily, searching her memory for his face and trying to recollect if she'd seen him before, but nothing familiar comes up. Cautiously, she answers,

"Yeah... And you are?"

"My name's Mike. We just moved here, my mom and I," he seems nervous, awkwardly shifting from one foot to another. Ginny notices that and decides she should act friendly and help him out, remembering how, not so long ago, she was new to this school too. So she grins offering him a hand to shake.

"Nice to meet you, Mike."

The boy is obviously caught off guard by her action but after a few seconds shakes her hand and smiles back.

"So, are you in my class?"

He nods. "Aham. Miss Sheridan said I should ask someone to help me since it's my first week here. She mentioned a girl named Ginny and described her to me, well, her backpack. I thought I was going to get lost here but then I saw it, the backpack I mean, and called after you but you must not've heard me so I had to run to catch up with you... You walk really fast."

Ginny chuckles. _He_ is speaking too fast that she hardly understands what he says but manages to get the gist of it. "Oh, cool," she starts walking and the boy follows her, gripping tightly at the straps of his backpack.

"Well, you can come with me, I'll show you the classroom. You can sit with me if you want to too. My friend Louise's sick today anyway so she won't be coming."

Ginny turns to face him once they reach the door to their classroom and finds him smiling shyly at her.

"Thanks."

She smiles back.

...

The bell rings marking the end of school for the day and Ginny saunters jauntily down the stairs, her new friend by her side.

"So, where do you live?"

Mike is silent for a few moments, biting his lip. "... Mom rented a house at the end of the Emery Road."

Ginny grabs his arm and jumps excitedly, taking Mike by surprise. "Hey, that's my street! We can walk home together!" she shrieks happily before realising he might not like that, and she doesn't want to be pushy and scare him away, so she retreats slowly and adds, "If you want, that is."

Mike eagerly accepts. "Sure!"

...

Mike has blond hair with some brownish streaks and his eyes are a strange blend of green and brown with little specks of gold. Also, he wears glasses and keeps pushing them up the bridge of his nose when he's nervous. His teeth are white, like blindingly white; she knows because he is perpetually grinning at her. Sometimes, when he teases her, his lips quirk to side in a cute way.

Mike and she spend all their time together, be it at school or at her place, since his mom is always working. They sit next to each other at school, do their homework together, they listen to music lying on the floor of her bedroom, play catch with Will or go for walks down the neighbourhood.

Ginny thinks Mike is a really nice boy, unlike many others she knows. He never yells at her or makes fun of her for liking boys' sports or pulls her braids.

In Ginny's book, that makes him a great friend.


	2. Living a Fairytale

Hi guys :D I still have no clear direction for this story so I'm just writing what comes to mind at a particular moment, though I'm certain the chapters will follow Bawson as they grow up and try to find their place in the /

English is not my native language and I'm totally out of practice when it comes to writing so please excuse all the strangeness in style and syntax and likely cliché sentences.

Enjoy :D

* * *

 **Living a Fairytale**

The first time they make their vows, Ginny and Mike are eight years old.

They are playing in the backyard of the Bakers' house with Will and Ginny's two best friends Louise and Michelle who have a crush on eleven-year-old Will and hang on his every word, a fact that just serves to boost his ego.

The girls are princesses trapped by a dragon, and the boys are princes who come to their rescue. They fight their way through thick dark woods (really, it's just a bush fence), climb up a mountain and down to the other side (it's a slide) and they fight the dragon (a giant plushie toy Louise got Ginny for her birthday) through a series of well-organised attacks in which they come out as victors.

Mike and Will stand proudly after the vicious battle in which they succeeded to liberate their princesses and save the kingdom, holding their makeshift swords and beaming at the girls who regard them as their heroes. The boys' faces are covered with dust and dirt, glistening with sweat but they do not seem in the least bothered by it.

After listening to the girls praising them and soaking in all their newly gained glory, prince Will then produces a ring he made of twig and proposes to princess Louise (because that's what princes do), but then he also proposes to princess Michelle because he doesn't want her to feel left out.

Genevieve, with her hair fashioned in a tight bun at the back of her head and clad in her favourite dress (the raspberry one with black polka dots), watches Mike as he, in his prince costume and a shiny plastic crown, gets on one knee in front of her, a ring pop between his finger, and asks,

'My beloved princess Genevieve, will you marry me?'

Her cheeks are scarlet, her eyes shine with glee as she fidgets in her pretty dress. Some strange force is tugging at her lips and in seconds, she is grinning, deep dimples showing on her face.

'Yes, I will, prince Michael of Lawsonia' Ginny answers very formally, straightening her back, entwining her fingers and lifting her chin up, the way princess Kate did in the movie to appear more regal.

Already a charmer even at that age, Mike puts a ring pop on her little finger and ceremoniously kisses her hand ('cause that's how the prince from the movie did it) as he gets up.

His eyes are bright and gleam with childish fascination at her as he confesses his love for her and Will acts as the officiator, bursting with pride at having been given such an important task in their game. Louise and Michelle stand next to Ginny in their mint green and pink dresses respectively, giggling when Will winks at them.

Taking her hands in his Mike proceeds to say, 'Princess Genevieve, I promise to always make you smile and laugh when you're sad. I promise to bring you your favourite ice cream and sit by your side until you feel better. I promise to punch Justin Chance any time he says something mean to you. I promise to share my lunch with you and always sit at your lunch table at school no matter what. I promise to one day win that teddy bear you saw at the fair and wanted so much."

Ginny looks away, feeling shy all of a sudden. It takes her a moment to think of what to say. Clearing her throat, she dares to look up to meet Mike's bespectacled gaze as he pulls his hand from hers and pushes his glasses up his nose. Ginny chuckles, swaying a little as she speaks,

"My dear prince Mike, I promise to always let you copy my homework and help you with math. I promise to always sit next to you at lunch and give you half of the muffin my mom packs for me... And I promise to teach you to ride a bike the way my dad taught me."

Ginny bites her lip as Mike leans over and gently presses a kiss on her cheek.

It's the first time Mike has kissed her since they met a year ago and she can't help some fluttery sensation bubbling in her stomach. His lips are crazy soft and in spite of that weird smell emanating from both Will and him due to their courageous battle with the dragon, Ginny focuses on Mike's eyes and the feeling of his hand in hers and the silence around them.

Mike's the one to break this magical moment by saying,

"Now, can we eat that ring? I'm starving."


	3. Family

_**3\. Family**_

Ginny learns pretty early on in their friendship that family is a sore subject for Mike, so she doesn't press him with questions about them.

The first time she asks him about his parents, it's Mike's third week in school and Ginny is yet to see his mom or dad come and pick him up. It's kind of weird, she thinks, since everyone's parents come to pick them up at one point or another.

They're sitting in the shade of a tree at the back of the school, feeling sated after eating their lunch, peanut-butter jelly sandwiches and grape soda. Mike even brought her favourite, grape-flavoured twizzlers and shared it with her.

"Aaaaaa," Mike groans, rubbing his stomach, "I'm stuffed. I shouldn't have eaten the second one. I think I might burst."

Ginny giggles, covering her mouth with her hand as she looks at him. Mike flashes her a grin, playfully nudging her shoulder. "Don't laugh."

"I told you but you wouldn't listen. That's what you get for eating too fast."

Mike just shrugs and turns his gaze forward. They sit in silence for awhile, waiting for the bell to ring.

"Mike," Ginny starts hesitantly, biting her lip because she's, all of a sudden, uncomfortable to ask him this.

She thinks she might be too nosy, but... He's her friend, quickly becoming her best friend and as _his_ friend Ginny thinks she should know these things, right? Mike's already met her family and became fast friends with Will in spite of him being several years older than them. She hasn't heard anything about his family, doesn't know whether he has any siblings in spite of asking him a few times about them. Funny, she thinks, because by now she already knows what his favourite band his, his favourite type of sandwich, and how passionate he is about baseball (extremely passionate – like, more so than Will and dad combined). And she finds that intriguing, she finds _him_ intriguing.

"Mike, why don't you ever tell me about your parents? You know I won't-I won't make fun of you or anything like that ,right?" her voice is small, somehow distant to her own ears as the question finally leaves her mouth. She glances at him from the corner of her eye, somehow afraid he's mad at her for asking.

Mike huffs a breath, his shoulders sagging defeatedly, his head turned away from her. Ginny's wringing her fingers, viciously biting her lip and cursing herself and her dumb brain. "You know what, forget it. I shouldn't've-"

"It's just my mom and me. My-my dad... he's not with us." As if realising Ginny was about to express her condolences, Mike rushes to explain, "He's not dead. He's just... not around." His voice sounds broken and Ginny can't help reaching out to clasp his hand in silent encouragement. "I've ever only seen him for a couple of months, just before we moved here. I had no idea who he was and - mom made us move, I didn't even get the chance to say goodbye to him" he chokes a sob and continues his hurried confession, "She just drove off angrily, rambling how _my dad_ was going to pay dearly for _this_. I had no idea what she was talking about." He takes a breath, shaking his head. "Anyway, we're here now and that's it. I still don't know what happened, I can't talk about it. Sorry Ginny" he finishes. He sniffs as he wipes his cheek, casting a sheepish look in her direction, like he feels guilt for not telling her the entire story.

What Mike doesn't realise is that Ginny doesn't need that story, not really. Seeing him like this tells her everything she needs to know – something happened between his parents that had nothing to do with him, yet he's the one paying the price. So she just holds onto his hand more tightly and lets him lean against her.

There's silence again, but this time Ginny's mind is not racing with questions. Ok, it is, but not like before. She understands Mike needs time and she's willing to be there for him if and whenever he needs her. Adult stuff is always _complicated_ and she'd rather not wreck her brain trying to figure out how they think.

She'd rather just hang onto the simple stuff, like making Mike feel better, letting him know she's there for him.

Because Mike's her friend, her best friend, and you don't let your friends cry over weird adult stuff that's not their fault.

"Hey, wanna come over after school to play catch?"

Mike looks up from her shoulder, lips spreading in a wide smile, "Yeah, that'd be great! And we can practice your throws 'cause you suck," he teases her and she bumps his shoulder, chuckling.

"Yeah, right. You're just bad at catching."

And just like that, they forget the little talk they had and lose themselves in conversation about some pitching moves Mike's been looking up to help her get better at it. Soon, the bell rings and they rush inside, laughing loudly as they try to outrun each other.


End file.
